Military History

Military History

episodes

Interviews with scholars of military history about their new books.

Hiroshima's Last Witnesses and Japan's Nuclear Future

August 8, 2026

Hiroshima's Last Witnesses and Japan's Nuclear Future

M. G. Sheftall

M. G. Sheftall has lived in Japan since 1987. He has a PhD in international relations and modern Japanese history from Waseda University in Tokyo. S…

Gianluca Fantoni, "Soldiers, Angels, and Avengers: A History of the Jewish Brigade" (McGill-Queen's UP, 2026)

August 7, 2026

Soldiers, Angels, and Avengers

Gianluca Fantoni
Hosted by Roberto Mazza

Soldiers, Angels, and Avengers: A History of the Jewish Brigade (McGill-Queen's University Press, 2026) tells the compelling story of the Jewish Briga…

Samuel Marquis, "Empire and Frontier: Colonel Peter Schuyler and the Valiant Iroquois in King William's War: 1689-1701" (Pegasus Books, 2026)

August 4, 2026

Empire and Frontier

Samuel Marquis
Hosted by Miranda Melcher

Empire and Frontier: Colonel Peter Schuyler and the Valiant Iroquois in King William's War: 1689-1701 (Pegasus Books, 2026) by Samuel Marquis presen…

Thomas Richardson, "Soldiers and Bushmen: The Australian Army in South Africa, 1899–1902" (Cambridge UP, 2025)

August 2, 2026

Soldiers and Bushmen

Thomas Richardson
Hosted by Miranda Melcher

Soldiers and Bushmen: The Australian Army in South Africa, 1899–1902 (Cambridge UP, 2025) by Dr. Thomas Richardson examines the commitment to what was…

Monalisa Adhikari, "A Post-Liberal Peace: How Emergent Powers Are Reshaping Global Conflict Management" (Cornell UP, 2026)

August 2, 2026

A Post-Liberal Peace

Monalisa Adhikari
Hosted by Miranda Melcher

In A Post-Liberal Peace: How Emergent Powers Are Reshaping Global Conflict Management (Cornell UP, 2026), Dr. Monalisa Adhikari shows how rising power…

Magdalena E. Stawkowski, "Atomic Collective: Radioactive Life in Kazakhstan" (U Toronto Press, 2025)

August 1, 2026

Atomic Collective

Magdalena E. Stawkowski
Hosted by Miranda Melcher

In the aftermath of the Soviet Union's collapse, Kazakhstan inherited the remnants of one of the world's most contaminated landscapes: the Semipal…

Andrew N. Buchanan and Ruth Lawlor eds., "The Greater Second World War: Global Perspectives" (Cornell UP, 2025)

July 28, 2026

The Greater Second World War

Andrew N. Buchanan and Ruth Lawlor
Hosted by Mark Baker

Andrew Buchanan and Ruth Lawlor, The Greater Second World War: Global Perspectives (Cornell University Press, 2025) This ambitious edited collection …

On Who Blew Up Nord Stream: A Conversation with Author Bojan Pancevski

July 28, 2026

On Who Blew Up Nord Stream

Hosted by Paul Starobin

The September, 2022 attack on the Nord Stream pipelines transporting Russian gas to Germany was perhaps the greatest single act of sabotage in modern …

Claire Hubbard-Hall, "Her Secret Service: The Forgotten Women of British Intelligence" (Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 2024)

July 27, 2026

Her Secret Service

Claire Hubbard-Hall
Hosted by Luca Trenta

Since the inception of the Secret Service Bureau back in 1909, women have worked at the very heart of British secret intelligence - yet their contribu…

Eamonn Gearon, "The Arab Bureau: The Story of Britain's Most Ingenious Intelligence Unit" (Hurst, 2026)

July 23, 2026

The Arab Bureau

Eamonn Gearon
Hosted by Nicholas Gordon

Many of us have watched the classic 1962 movie Lawrence of Arabia, the somewhat fictionalized work based on the life of T. E. Lawrence during the Arab…

Lucy D. Curzon, "Art and Citizenship in Conflict: British Women War Artists, 1939–45" (Manchester UP, 2025)

July 20, 2026

Art and Citizenship in Conflict

Lucy D. Curzon
Hosted by Miranda Melcher

Art and Citizenship in Conflict: British Women War Artists, 1939-45 (Manchester UP, 2026) by Dr. Lucy Curzon examines the work of women war artists in…

Gretchen Heefner, "Sand, Snow, and Stardust: How US Military Engineers Conquered Extreme Environments" (U Chicago Press, 2025)

July 18, 2026

Sand, Snow, and Stardust

Gretchen Heefner
Hosted by Miranda Melcher

Deserts, the Arctic, outer space—these extreme environments are often seen as inhospitable places at the edges of our maps. But from the 1940s thr…

Chad S. A. Gibbs "Survival at Treblinka: Geography, Gender, and Social Networks in Jewish Resistance" (U Wisconsin Press, 2026)

July 16, 2026

Survival at Treblinka

Chad S. A. Gibbs
Hosted by Paul Lerner

On August 2, 1943, prisoners at the Nazi extermination camp Treblinka, located in occupied Poland, launched an uprising against their captors, during …

Sarah Kaminsky, "The Forger of Paris" (Doppelhouse Press, 2025)

July 15, 2026

The Forger of Paris

Sarah Kaminsky
Hosted by Ilana Maymind

The Forger of Paris (Doppelhouse Press, 2025) presents Adolfo Kaminsky’s biography in its only authorized edition, expanded with photographs from Kami…

Thomas Smith, "The Fifth Crusade: A History of the Epic Campaign to Conquer Egypt" (Yale UP, 2026)

July 14, 2026

The Fifth Crusade

Thomas Smith
Hosted by Miranda Melcher

In 1217, the crusader states were in a highly fragile condition. The Fourth Crusade had failed, and Jerusalem had not been recovered. The crusad…

Dan Altman, "Taking Territory: The Persistence of Conquest Since 1945" (Cornell UP, 2026)

July 12, 2026

Taking Territory

Dan Altman

Taking Territory: The Persistence of Conquest Since 1945 (Cornell University Press, 2026) is an eye-opening account of why territorial conquest persis…

Mary E. Mendoza, "Deadly Divide: How Insects, Pathogens, and People Defied the US-Mexico Border" (UNC Press, 2026)

July 11, 2026

Deadly Divide

Mary E. Mendoza
Hosted by Stephen Hausmann

As many as ten thousand people attempt to illegally cross the border between the US and Mexico each month, braving deserts, rivers, and other environm…

Lauren Duval, "The Home Front: Revolutionary Households, Military Occupation, and the Making of American Independence" (UNC Press, 2025)

July 6, 2026

The Home Front

Lauren Duval
Hosted by Carolyn Eastman

What was it like to live in a city experiencing occupation by a foreign army? What did it mean when a family had to quarter an officer in their home? …

Xian Aubin Wang, "Islam and Maoism in Southern Yunnan: State Violence and Resistance, 1949–2024" (Cornell UP, 2026)

July 3, 2026

Islam and Maoism in Southern Yunnan

Xian Aubin Wang
Hosted by Miranda Melcher

Islam and Maoism in Southern Yunnan: State Violence and Resistance, 1949–2024 (Cornell University Press, 2026) by Dr. Xian Aubin Wang investigates …

Kate Dannies, "Conscripting Breadwinner Soldiers in the Late Ottoman Empire: Family, Law and War" (Edinburgh UP, 2026)

July 1, 2026

Conscripting Breadwinner Soldiers in the Late Ottoman Empire

Kate Dannies
Hosted by Miranda Melcher

Conscripting Breadwinner Soldiers in the Late Ottoman Empire: Family, Law and War (Edinburgh UP, 2026) by Dr. Kate Dannies examines the gender and fam…